Merhaba! Birinci dersinize hoş geldiniz!!! If you're wondering what on Earth that just said, here's what it means: "Hello! Welcome to your first lesson!!!".

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Greetings

Hello! - Merhaba!

How are you? - Nasılsınız?(formal) Nasılsın?(informal) (Do not get frightened, this formality is not as complex as Japanese.)

Fine, thanks. - İyiyim, teşekkürler.

This is invariably followed by something like

And you? - Ya siz (nasılsınız)? (formal) or Ya sen nasılsın? (informal)

to which you can reply Thank you - Teşekkür ederim or Sağ olun or Teşekkürler

This is an invariable greeting ritual. Turks are pleased when foreigners make an effort to learn and participate in it.

Other ways of greeting friends:

How are you? (lit. what news?)- Ne haber?(very informal) (pronounced more like Naber?)

How's it going? - Nasıl Gidiyor ?

What's going on? - Ne oluyor?

What's up? - Ne var ne yok?

Greetings at different times of day:

Good morning. - Günaydın.

Good Afternoon. - Tünaydın (not common - usually you'll hear İyi günler ) Have a nice day. - İyi günler.

Good evening. - İyi akşamlar (if it's after about 3 p.m. and it can be pronounced like yakşamlar) .

Good night. - İyi geceler.

When you're introduced to someone say Nice to meet you. - Tanıştığımıza memnun oldum. or just - Memnun oldum.

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Saying Good-bye

Good-bye. -Güle güle or Hoşça kal

Bye. -Hoşça kal 'or' Güle güle.

See you later. -Görüşmek üzere

See you. - Görüşürüz.

See you (on Monday). - (Pazartesi günü) görüşürüz

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When put into context...

Sevki: Merhaba! Adım Sevki.

Rachel: Merhaba Sevki! Ben Rachel.

Sevki: Nasılsınız, Rachel?

Rachel: İyiyim, siz nasılsınız?

Sevki: Mükemmel, teşekkürler.

Rachel: İyi. Tanıştığımıza memnun oldum.

Sevki: Ben de memnun oldum.

Rachel: Hoşçakal!

Sevki: Güle güle. (This is said by only the one who is said 'good bye'. You cannot say this if its you who is leaving firstly.)

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Translation

Sevki: Hello! My name is Sevki.

Rachel: Hello Sevki! I'm Rachel.

Sevki: How are you, Rachel?

Rachel: I'm good, how are you?

Sevki: Great, thanks.

Rachel: Good. It was nice meeting you.

Sevki: It was nice meeting you, too.

Rachel: Goodbye!

Sevki: Bye-Bye.

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Notes on that conversation

In Turkish, as is true with many other languages, when you're talking to someone you've never met before, rarely ever talk to or of great importance, you refer to them in the plural form. As you can see in the conversation, rather than referring to each other as sen (you singular), they refer to each other as siz (you plural). This is only a formality, but very important.

Another thing to note is that they rarely use the word ben (I) when referring to themselves. In Turkish, as long as the reader/listener can understand who the writer/speaker is talking about, words such as ben, sen, o (he/she), etc., don't need to be used.

Also, when Ayşegül says "Ben Ayşegül" (meaning "I'm Ayşegül, but literally "Me Ayşegül"), it's just like in Tarzan, when Tarzan says, "Me Tarzan, you Jane". In Turkish, this is considered to be normal, because the copula ("to be" in English) is considered redundant.

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Exercises

Exercising a language is an important part of learning it. Let's strengthen our Turkish with some exercises.

Translate the following into Turkish:

- Hello. I'm Amul. And you?

- Hello, Amul. I'm Gregorio. How are you?

- I'm fine, thanks.

- Good night.

Answer:'''

- Merhaba. Adım Amul. Ya siz?

- Merhaba, Amul. Ben Gregorio. Nasılsınız?

- İyiyim, teşekkürler.

- İyi geceler.

Happy birthday - İyi ki dogdun OR Mutlu yillar OR Dogum gunun kutlu olsun